my crafty adventures

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About me

Welcome to my blog! My name is Jessica, and I'm a music professor from Kentucky. This blog details my journey into DIY style. I love to sew and knit my own clothes, and I'm a dedicated thrift store shopper! I also love fashion, so I'm attempting to marry my interests without causing myself to go bankrupt. I love bright colors, full skirts, and vintage styles. I love to answer questions, and I can be reached by email at jmills01@gmail.com.

FO: Vogue 2960

Notes: Wow, this dress was a lot of work! I have an afternoon wedding to attend in June this summer, and I was inspired to sew a Betty Draper inspired sundress. I had this beautiful fabric I bought with no purpose in mind, and it was perfect for the vision in my head! I love vintage patterns, but I fear the necessary alterations to fit the modern figure (I’m not so much for the girdle wearing) so I hadn’t yet made a 50s dress. I chose this Vintage Vogue reissue, hoping it had been updated for modern undergarments. Was it? Well, not having the orignal pattern in hand I can’t say… but I tend to say “not much.”

The sizing was a little strange. I normally wear an 8 on the top and 10 on the bottom in Vogue patterns. According to the finished garment measurements, a size 6 had the 34.5 inch bust I like in this style of dress (about 3 inches of ease) so I originally cut a 6 fading to an 8 at the shoulders (because I have broad shoulders) for my muslin. Well, it fit through the bust, but it was huge in the shoulders and yet way too tiny in the waist (indicating to me that a girdle was expected for the pattern, and that it hadn’t been updated that much.) So in the final dress I cut a straight 6 in the shoulders and bust, and faded to an 8 in the waist. I was still worried that it would be small in the waist, so I gave it almost an extra inch when sewing the side seams. Probably the 8 would have fit, but it was hard to tell, and I’d rather have a little too much room than not enough in the waist – I hate to feel strangled, and that way I can wear it when I sing (ever notice how opera singers wear a lot of empire waist dresses? There is a reason for that… I have massive expansion powers through my lower ribcage.) The shoulders are still a bit wide, but I’m going to sew some bra strap holders in, which I think will fix the problem.

The back of the dress is pretty low – I had to buy a special doohicky to lower my back bra band or it would show. Also, notice that my hair gets redder by the day, I swear… I am thinking of dying it dark auburn.

I underlined the entire dress in silk organza – I bought a 13 yard bolt from dharma trading. It was a good choice – on its own this fabric is a bit limp and slightly sheer (I think it might be sheeting) and with the organza is stands nicely without a a crinoline.

I made self fabric buttons, because I am obsessed with them right now. The hem was shortened by 7 inches, and then I made a narrow machine hem (life is too short to hand hem circle skirts.) Overall I am very pleased – except for the underlining, the dress was very easy to construct. I did not do the bound buttonholes, and I topstitched the placket bottom down, but other than that I followed the directions pretty closely, and they were excellent. I would highly recommend this pattern, but watch out for the shoulder width, and measure your waist!

awesome dress! but i have a totally unrelated question: how do you get those awesome waves and curls in your hair? do you use curlers or rag tie them at night? do tell! it’s so cute and i want to try it too!

Pretty pretty! Thanks for all of the fitting tips, your hard work has paid off though as the finished dress fits beautifully. Love the back view – the low back and pleated skirt are so flattering.
Great shoes, too!

beautiful job! it looks an excellent fit, from what i’ve read the vintage vogues AREN’T resized, just multisized, iyswim. i certainly found with v1044 that bust-waist was definitely girdle-proportioned!

thanks for the idea of underlining – i may do this when i remake 1044, and i too love the shoes!

Oh will you look at that – you’ve gone and made the dress of my imagination! I too have a wedding to attend and have been searching for a vintage pattern that does pretty much exactly this. I am still hunting for the perfect pattern as I find genuine old patterns fit me better than Vogue repros – I am scared of making alterations and getting it wrong.
Lovely!

Lovely job!!! I think if I were wearing this dress, I would spin myself everywhere I went just so I could see the skirt twirl. Hmmm… I might have to make myself one just for this very reason, in a gorgeous flower pattern like yours, of course. Great job!!!

Oh you look so fabulous in your beautiful dress, and I love your shoes. Thanks for the great and detailed review–this is one of the dresses I have in my stash and would like to make post-preggo, and it’s good to know about the bra coverage issue.

The dress is absolutely gorgeous, and perfect on you! Your projects are always such an inspiration. As for your hair, it is incredibly beautiful–first thing I noticed, even before the dress! I may be biased, but I say don’t dye it; women pay a fortune to try to imitate that shade, with generally miserable results. (And as my own hair, which is almost exactly that color, is going grey, it makes my head ache to think of giving it up voluntarily.)

Very beautiful dress!
Have you considered sewing on some grips to the back of your dress? You would need at least two, one on both sides. They would hold your bra from showing and would save you the trouble of seeking extra bras. Just a bit of hand- stiching.

And I love your blog. I have been a keen lurker for a good time already. Hello, nice to meet you.

( Yarnhog. Psssst! Henna glossing! Just use body quality henna. I too am getting some stranded whites & sandy color but every few months I brew some henna paste, add a few tbs´s of it to conditioner, slap on my hair, cover with cling foil (to prevent dripping. Depending on how much time I have, I wash it off after 15 mins / few hours. The leftover henna paste can be frozen for later use. I still preserve my red hair vibrant like that. You should see it in sun! Inside it looks lots darker )

Beautiful results. I think we saw the inspiration dress on a Season 3 episode last night, which made me look at your pictures again. (We rent the DVD’s since we only have basic dish, so we are always behind.) It looks great on you.

I LOVE it! But, I wish you would quit making me want more patterns that I hadn’t noticed before. My stash is big enough, thank you very much. I just bought that Vogue you made the royal blue dress with and now have to have this one. The styling on top is just beautiful. Great job!

I used this pattern for my size 4 daughters junior prom dress. Never did get the shoulders to work quite right so she went without a bra! I also made a crinoline for underneath. I had fun making the bound buttonholes and it really dressed it up. http://junesstuff.wordpress.com